Have you ever experienced a moment when you've attempted to draw an object or animal and your family or friends identify it as something else? The odds are very good as, in a nutshell, that's what Pictionary is all about. Scribble, by indie developer Bear Box Media, is essentially an enhanced digital version of the classic word guessing game. On first glance, the title's offerings might not look like much - and feel all too similar - but upon closer inspection there is a barrage of content and game changers also referred to as "mutators" to keep the timeless formula feeling fresh.

Scribble for the Wii U eShop caters to 2-8 players - making it an accessible party title for all ages and skill levels. Arguably, unlike a lot of traditional video games on the Wii U, the GamePad in Scribble is actually put to constructive use. The inclusion of the device never feels forced. One player draws on it, while other players use the television to guess what exactly the drawing is - it is indeed a modernised version of Pictionary. Once a round is finished the GamePad is passed on; it's that simple.

The 1500 word library in Scribble can cover just about anything including objects, animals, hobbies and even landmarks. Basic words may be "kite", "ankle" and even the "Golden Gate Bridge". There are also more challenging ones based on film & literature like "Edward Scissorhands"; there are admittedly some you may never solve. If more difficult words prove too much of a challenge there is an easy mode that can be activated at any time. For added enjoyment, players can also create and add new words to the game with the word creator mode - this allows a group to create themed sessions based on popular topics such as movies, games and other subjects of interest. This word creator adds to the seemingly limitless nature of the title.

There are several game modes on offer in Scribble that keep the core concept intact. Versus mode has players working towards the highest score after a set number of rounds, and the team mode is a similar setup. Barricade and Tug 'o' Draw are more interesting. In Barricade, teams must reach the opposing team's side of a tile grid by guessing words. In Tug 'o' Draw players must be the first to a certain amount of points. Every time the opposing team gets a word, a point is removed from your own team; this mode can last forever, according to the developer. A lot of these modes also utilise a timer, which adds a sense of pressure to both the drawing and word guessing; again, it's all a solid recreation of what people love about the original drawing game.

Modifiers, also referred to as "mutators", put a twist on the classic idea of Pictionary. When active, mutators add an increased level of challenge for the person drawing. Blackout covers the canvas up on the GamePad's screen, meaning players have little idea of what exactly they are drawing - provided they don't look up at the television screen. Groundhog plays catch-up with drawings, and will delay what is displayed to the audience on the television. Mirror swaps the input movement of the stylus, making left the right way, and right the left way. Flip, flips the canvas upside down, and the mirror flip modifier combines the two, making drawing a nightmare. All of these modfiers add an extra level of difficulty and can create some fun moments for friends and family.

The toolset provided to create drawings in Scribble is as expected. There is a blank canvas, a small selection of pen tips to choose from, and standard colours including red, blue, yellow and a few others to help you illustrate each word. There is also a doodle mode where you can brush up on your drawing skills. In terms of music, there is a tune that plays in the background on repeat while participants rack their brains trying to draw or guess what a drawing is. It's not presentation to blow anyone away, but it's all competent and does the job.

Conclusion

When effectively utilised, the Wii U GamePad is a great way to entertain a crowd of friends or family. Bear Box Media has been able to capture the unique controller's brilliance by adapting the classic word guessing game, Pictionary. Admittedly, Scribble is unlikely to win over anyone seeking a more traditional video game experience, while its appeal is perhaps a little limited by its genre. What is on offer, though, can be enjoyed by everyone.

When he’s not paying off a loan to Tom Nook, Liam likes to report on the latest Nintendo news and admire his library of video games. His favourite Nintendo character used to be a guitar-playing dog, but nowadays he prefers to hang out with Judd the cat.

It's definitely not the first pictionary type game on Wii U. There was the sketchpad mini game in Game and Wario and the eShop title PictoParty. Still the inclusion of mutators and those other modes does set help set it apart.

>> Alternate scoring in team play: if you counted the seconds it took to answer, then made it the score it would reward the person who draws and guesses. The negative impact of the current scoring is that people who don't guess many feel like they aren't helping the team

>> Gallery: so you can see the drawings at the end, especially with something like blackout, where you never see your drawing

>> Categories for custom words: making your own words is cool! Cooler if you could create your own categories of words!

Overall it is a great party game, pretty much Pictionary, but the mutators are a fun twist! It is worth much more than the asking price, and I hope more development happens after release. A few tweaks would make it even better!

Category Numbers - We thought of a few immediately playing last night. I think 3 or 4 would be plenty!

Team Scoring - I'm thinking you'd score by seconds left. So, for example, if you have a word, and a 60 second time, and someone guesses the word in 20 seconds, you have 40 seconds left. So, you'd score 40 seconds. At the end of the game you'd get all the seconds that were left when guessing (if using time based scoring instead of guess based scoring).

The things I like about it is that it provides a little additional pressure to move quickly. It also gives the score to the person who draws! In playing with my family, the younger kids feel bad at the end of the round if they come in 5th or 8th b/c they didn't guess many of the words. Finding a way for them to feel like they contributed helps them feel more engaged while playing. Time-based scoring also increases the probability of a winner. Most of our games last night came out as draws due to everyone guessing the same number of drawings correctly.

Again, I think this is a GREAT adaptation of a fun game that is PERFECT for holiday and friendly gatherings., thanks for making the game. I suspect it will be hard to earn enough money to warrant doing more dev work, but appreciate you listening and considering .

Just bought it (from New Zealand). It's a shame it isn't featured on the eshop front-page, I had to use the search function. If you were to give it an "introductory discount" as I have seen some games do, something like 10%, it might get some better exposure. I will often browse the eshop via the "special offers" tab, and I'm sure others do the same.

@molkom Thanks for the support! I've already adapted some of the code to some of @cyrus_zuo 's suggestions.

I'm very interested in the "Dutch Auction" approach to the score, however, I'm unsure as to where that will fit in. The initial design made pretty good use of space... so suddenly adding in a feature like this can be slightly tricky.

Regarding the custom categories, it could be a life-saver for me and my family. I have two kids, one 11 and the other 7 whom just love Pictionary. The problem is that we are and Latinoamerican family so our mother tongue is Spanish. With the creation of the custom categories, we could have a whole new game, in any other language!!

Please, add custom categories and/or SPanish and other languages support. I'll do the translation for free if the need ever arises.

Great game! Just spent the past couple of days playing with friends. It would be great to have a difficulty setting though. Just like the easy mode that can be selected for players but one that only allows for "Difficult" words to appear. Would that be possible?

@Sebilio It certainly would be possible, but it's the first time anyone has asked me to make the game harder. There's only around 200 Difficult drawings, and my concern would be that making a change like that would mean altering the base code. That's usually a risk most developers don't like to make, just in case there's an unforeseen knock-on effect.

I can look into it, but I think adding in some additional words and the Gallery at the end of each game is more worth-while of an addition.

Thanks for considering it! If Ive been the only one so far and its that's too much hassle I guess it would have to be shelved. I guess I could make a custom dictionary with only difficult words and use that. Hope the game has been going well since you launched it and that you manage another intuitive game on the Wii U at some point!